When instant funding first started appearing in the prop trading space, most experienced traders dismissed it. The traditional challenge model had been around long enough that anything deviating from it felt suspicious. A few years on, that scepticism has largely faded, but the question of whether instant funding is genuinely worth it or just a […]

In 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States launched an anti-trust lawsuit against Facebook in conjunction with 46 states. The FTC alleged that Facebook’s purchases of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 – which the FTC had approved – had allowed Facebook (now Meta) to accrue monopoly power in the social […]

South Africa’s emerging developers are building close to the ground, with many of the strongest solutions at the inaugural Huawei Code4Mzansi finals focused on the systems people use every day: township retail, healthcare, energy, agriculture, payments and the creative economy. The competition was held in partnership with the Department of Small Business Development. “The Code4Mzansi […]

Artificial intelligence is reshaping property valuations in South Africa by combining trusted data, machine learning, and human expertise to produce faster and more accurate results, moving beyond valuation as professional judgment and historical comparables. The scale and depth of data underlying the use of AiVM, Lightstone’s AI-powered tool used for residential property valuation,...

Africa’s most interesting systems are often built long before formal markets know what to call them. Mobile money in Kenya changed financial access by addressing the gap left by traditional banking infrastructure, which excluded too many people from the system. Stokvels created disciplined models of collective finance long before fintech discovered community-led savings. Township retail […]

With 8.1-million unemployed, growth is the only path to job creation, and that requires competitive logistics, enabling exporters to succeed globally – making reform acceleration non-negotiable. Statistics reported last week for freight volumes through South Africa’s ports in 2025 show a genuine recovery. Another win last week was the finalisation of 11 private rail operators’ […]

Netcare has announced that it is piloting clinical-grade wearable monitoring technology in general wards at a flagship facility, as part of a broader strategy to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) tools across its ecosystem. The move positions the private hospital group as a continental leader in digitally enabled, data-driven healthcare. The announcement came as Netcare today […]

Prediction markets are not a sportsbook with different branding. The contract structure is different, the margin economics are different, and regulators treat them as a separate product category. For iGaming operators who already run payment infrastructure, hold gambling licenses, and maintain active player pools, that difference is an opportunity. This guide covers what you need […]

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Today’s four puzzles are inspired by chess. (If you haven’t yet watched the recent documentaries on Judit Polgár and Hans Niemann, I recommend them.)

1. Oddities

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Because we define dates based on the stars, the full moon on 31 May will be the second one of the calendar month

This week’s full moon is a blue moon. The term does not describe the colour of the moon, but instead arises from the way we define our calendar in reference to the stars rather than the moon.

The moon takes almost a month to circle our planet. The exact time is 29.5 days but if we...

Animals have tactics of their own to cope with the heat, but zoo animals also get a little help from their keepers

A hot bank holiday weekend might see humans flock to the beach, don summer hats and crack open a cold beer, but when it comes to keeping big cats cool, zoos turn to a rather different treat: blood lollies.

While experts note habitats within zoos are carefully tuned to their...

Mission will put first astronaut in orbit for a year, a key step in Beijing’s plan to put people on the moon by 2030

China has launched its Shenzhou-23 mission in which an astronaut will spend a full year in orbit for the first time, a crucial step in Beijing’s ambition to send humans to the moon by 2030.

The Long March 2-F rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan launch centre in north-western China...

La Brea Tar Pits – the only urban, active ice age excavation site in world – gets a mammoth face lift for the first time in nearly 50 years

Los Angeles is known for famous museum such as the Getty and the Lacma, but perhaps fewer people are aware that – in the heart of the city – lies a museum that contains one of the world’s most remarkable fossil sites.

The La Brea Tar Pits and Museum is home...

Technological interventions face huge financial or practical challenges, but there is another way

In 2019, my scientific research was nearly brought to an early end when my team and I published the bombastic statement that natural forest restoration was the “best climate change solution” available in a paper for the peer-reviewed journal Science.

I remember a colleague from the World Wildlife...

Project Hail Mary, Jurassic Park: from dino-mosquitoes to a spaceship’s roar, pointless mistakes on the scientific details make me wince

On the advice of my teenage son, I recently went to the cinema to see Project Hail Mary. The film has science in it. I am a science writer and so he was convinced I would like it.

Imagine my surprise partway through, however, when I found myself seething so...

SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight on Friday. It was an upgraded version of the spacecraft Nasa is counting on to land astronauts on the moon. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites that were released midway through the hour-long flight that stretched halfway around the world. Despite some engine trouble, the...

Exclusive: New biography uncovers Frank Hawking’s papers in which he lamented that his son had ‘little initiative’

In exploring the physics and geometry of the universe, Stephen Hawking became a world-renowned pioneer of black hole theory, writing the bestselling book A Brief History of Time, which has sold more than 13m copies, and inspiring people to “look up at the stars and not down at...

The US supreme court has preserved nationwide access to mail-order abortion pills – for now. As Carter Sherman explains, the fight to protect this medication is far from over, as a nationwide, near-total abortion ban could be on the horizon. Carter speaks with Dr Angel Foster, co-founder of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, who reveals how the legal battle over abortion...